István Domonkos always admired his older brother, Péter. “He was a much better student than I was,” István recalled. “He was an excellent mathematician.” Péter’s promising future, however, was soon overshadowed by rising antisemitism in Hungary.
In May 1938, Hungary passed the first of several anti-Jewish laws that dramatically changed the lives of Jewish citizens. These laws stripped tens of thousands of their jobs, businesses, and basic rights. “In that world with the anti-Jewish laws, one couldn’t get a decent job,” István remembered. Péter, despite his talent and education, faced a society that no longer allowed him to thrive.
When World War II escalated, Hungary’s government forced many Jewish men into labor service instead of allowing them to serve in the regular army. Péter was among those assigned to a forced labor unit in the summer of 1942, sent directly to the front lines.
Tragically, in early 1943, Péter’s family received a brief and coldly worded notification: “We inform you that Péter Domonkos, forced laborer, who was born in 1919 in Budapest, mother’s name Gabriella Rózsa, died in January 1943 at Marki and was buried on the site.”
Péter never returned home. His life, full of promise, ended in a foreign land under brutal conditions. István and their father survived the Holocaust, carrying the memory of Péter and the pain of a future stolen.
Péter’s story is one among countless others—reminders of individual lives lost not only to war but to the cruelty of prejudice and persecution.
Photo: USHMM, Centropa Collection
